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Bent into shape

The question is posed by Danny Murphy, who has played for both clubs, and is a legitimate one: if Peter Crouch was playing for Charlton and Darren Bent for Liverpool, which one would have been in the England team yesterday? It is not only Murphy who finds it perverse that Crouch, who hasn’t scored in his first 14 games for Liverpool, should consistently be preferred at international level to young Bent, with nine goals in 12 appearances for Charlton.

For the final World Cup qualifying tie against Poland last month, Sven-Göran Eriksson sent on the blunt instrument that is Crouch and again left Bent kicking his heels on the bench — a decision that was greeted by a crescendo of booing from the Old Trafford crowd.

The coach was anything but apologetic. After criticising the fans for their reaction to the substitution, he described Crouch as “very, very special” and kept